We began our walking tour down the Royal Way. First stop the Copernicus Institute’s courtyard where we played our first Chopin bench. These black benches are spotted around the city at points that were significant to the composer’s life. Pressing a button on the bench, a snippet of a Chopin piano piece is played. Speaking of Chopin we tried to enter Church of the Holy Cross but could not as a service was in progress. The church houses the heart of the composer embedded in one of its columns. The rest of him resides in Paris at Pére Lachaise Cemetery. We stopped in for a quick peak in the Hotel Bristol, then headed down to Piłsudski Square to visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 
Retracing our steps back to the Royal Way we headed into the Old Town Centre. It’s hard to imagine that after the war the entire Old Town and 85% of the city lay in total ruins. 
Passing through the Barbican we went in search of the memorial to the heroes of the Warsaw Uprising. This is one of 2 uprisings in the Nazi occupied city of Warsaw, the other being the Ghetto uprising. As the Russians approached the city the Polish Free Army rose up out of their hiding place in the sewers and fought the Germans for over a week. The Russians decided to let the Germans do their dirty work for them and stopped. When the uprising was brutally crushed the Russians finally moved in.
Heading back to our hotel we made one more stop for Páczki, rose-flavoured donuts, a Polish specialty, at a delightful Cafe decorated in Art Deco style.
Decaigny Abroad 